The Mulhacen at Intermot 2004

We saw the Derbi Mulhacen for the first time at Intermot, in 2004 (see the Dutch page about the Intermot ).

It was a Scrambler in a modern design. Scramblers were street motorcycles made suitable for off-road use. They had a high exhaust pipe and knobby tires, for instance. This BSA Scrambler is an example.

 

Scramblers have always appealed to me: they are the classic variant of allroads, while the frame geometry and suspension guarantees more fun on the road, the looks are more of a classic motorcycle, and often their weight is lower than that of modern allroads, which is always an advantage off the road.

Recently, Triumph came with a (much too heavy) copy of a classic Scrambler. Derbi did something different, and designed a modern Scrambler, with the low weight of a classic one.

At this moment, it looks like everybody is imitating this initiative of the Derbi (think of the new F650's from BMW for instance).

 

The Mulhacen at Intermot 2006

To our surprise, Derbi took the Mulhacen into production. It was at the Intermot 2006 that we saw the Derbi Mulhacen that would be for sale. The production bike looks very much the same as the prototype, as you can see.

The Mulhacen has the engine from the Yamaha XT660. We have seen several reviews, both of the Mulhacen and the XT660. All reviews praise the engine (though there seems to be some konstantfahrrückeln). They also all praise the handling of the Derbi: it is a dream to ride. One French magazine calls the Derbi Mulhacen the 21th century XT500, which is quite a compliment.

Derbi was not present at Intermot 2006, but the German importer of Derbi was.
For the first time, I could try sitting on the Mulhacen.

The handlebars are very wide (which I like). Your knees are wide apart due to the tank (which reminds sitting on a BMW R1200GS). You sit straight up, and slightly forward. The pegs are slightly behind your knees. It felt like it was custom-made for me.

 

The back of the Mulhacen is as beautiful as the front or the side view.

And, as you see, I am not the only one interested in it.

 

Test ride

The German importer gave us the adress of motorcycle dealer Wirths, where we could take a test ride.

It was farther away than we thought: about 180 km, through the beautifull surroundings of Windeck. We rode using backways, and as a result, we arrived rather late, at around 4 in the afternoon.

 

Unfortunately, our contacts had been a bit vague. We had not made it explicit that we would arrive that day, so the Mulhacen was not ready to ride yet.

It was taken to the workshop, and we got a cup of coffee, and waited.

 

It took some time, because the battery had to be charged.

It was very strange, knowing that I would ride on a bike that we had spotted two years ago, which looked too good to be true.

 

At last, when it was dark outside, the Mulhacen was ready for its first test ride.

It had zero kilometers on its clocks. Clocks, by the way, that have the form of a panel with an adjustable backlight.

I was shown the controls. Only the knob for adjusting the backlight of the instrument panel was different from what I am used to. It can be used to set different functions of the display, and to adjust the backlight, and it works a bit like a trackball.

And then it was time to set off. I started the engine, and the first observation was that the sound is beautiful: deep, and not too loud at the same time.

 

An advantage of riding in the dark, is that you can check how well the headlight works. The headlight of the Mulhacen is very good, even in the pitch dark forest where we took our test ride.

The wide handlebars make the Mulhacen handle very easily: you only have to think about a corner and the Mulhacen is cornering.

I never had the feeling of "falling" into a turn (a feeling that you may get on a BMW R1100GS with TKC 80's), and I never had the feeling that I had to push the Mulhacen into a corner. It was all very easy, and we rode a really curvy road, so I had all the opportunity to feel the handling.

The engine felt really smooth, although it was brand new. It was very eager to go ahead: it was difficult to be gentle. I did not want to be rough on this brand new engine, so I never pulled open the throttle, but nevertheless, the clocks always showed a much higher speed than I thought I would have.

The clocks were very easily readable, in the dark.

 

And of course, the Mulhacen is as beautifull, from all sides, as it was at Intermot.

 

The outcome of the test ride is that I know that this will be my motorcycle. I will wait until this spring: I will have saved the money for it, by then, and it is much more fun having a new motorcycle in a time when it gets warmer instead of during the winter. Breaking in an engine in the cold is not the best way to break it in.

 

Buying the Mulhacen

Finally, the long expected day was there: we went to buy the Mulhacen, from the dealer in Germany who had aloowed us to take a testride.

We have to import the Mulhacen into the Netherlands before we can insure it, so we had to take a trailer along.

 

I hope this will be the only time that the Mulhacen sees a trailer...

 

And now, there is one extra motorcycle in the stable...

Importing is no big deal: you can get a registration plate for one day, ride to a test center of the RDW, and then wait for all the paperwork to be done. A fwe days later (and a lot of money spent), you will recieve the papers and your registration numbers.